Stopped taking pristiq - how long before dizziness goes away?

I was on Effexor 150mg for 10 years and wanted to be drug free. The Dr. said it would be a difficult withdrawal process and suggested I get on pristiq as it would be easier to withdraw from. What a nightmare! I switched on November 28th from Effexor 150mg to Pristiq 100mg and after 3 weeks went down to 50 mg and then cut in 1/2 (25mg) for 3 days. I've had it... I didn't take any last night. I am at work and feelng so dizzy. What should I do? I need to get through this. I don't want this poison in my body any longer. Can I take anything for dizziness?

Responses (5)

I really have no answer for you as I am myself in the - tidious process - of withdrawing from my 50mg daily Pristiq dose. It has been now over a month that I began this process (following a chart given by my physician), and even though I finished and have been completely off the drug for 5 days now, I am still experiencing very strong side effects: dizziness, ringing in my ears and terrible stiffness in my muscles and joints. This drug is a poison our bodies became "addicted" to and we are now suffering withdrawal effects, similar to the ones felt by people on street drugs! I feel so mad and I am going to call my doctor, although I doubt that he can do anything...

I am now on day 8 of withdraws from Pristiq. This has been a nightmare. I unfortunately am still experiencing "Brain Zaps" very frequently but am happy to say after day 7 I am no longer really experiencing much dizziness. If I could tell people to steer clear of Venlefexine and Divenlefexine I would. The withdraws from these medications are not warned and the withdraws are devastating, EVEN if you are weaning.

I recently decided to go drug free from Pristiq. I have only been on this for two and a half mths. when i started my taper everything seems fine until two days ago. Terrible dizziness almost to point i couldn't drive. i had periods(multiple) electric shock type sensations on the bottom of my feet, hands, mouth, tongue, chest and legs. This was so scarey! I thought i was going crazy. Yesterday, i woke up with terrible vomiting and dizziness and of course tears. I am a nurse and i have seem patient go thru dt's i feel like a heroin addict. Also, i began to have terrible joint pain in my rt hand about a mth and a half ago. Having a terrible time grasping. Pls i would love more feed back on your experience with Pristiq it might help me answer some questions.

i'm so thankful for this site! I've been on this poison for over 5 years @ 300mg a day! yes, i'm having the same problems as you are... i found a new doctor & she ran all sorts of tests... so, i was diagnosed as bi-polar, PTSD, & severe depression 13 years ago because my fiancee disappeared(broken heart) & went from a very active & social person to a literal "junkie" because of those psy. docs. not taking the time to get to the problem. anyway, when my new doc started asking the right questions... ie. those "electric shocks" or "lightening" strikes in my head(painless)... she discovered i'm narcoleptic... not depressed! so i've been trying to go off these too... today is day 2 completely off & other than the non stop shaking,crying,& now the severe stiffness & pain in my muscles & joints as well as freaky dreams & the over all feeling of "yuck"... i'm ok.

i'd just like to know how long before i can move again... pristiq has ruined my life & over all health... my body is 150# overweight & since i'm a musician & entertainer... not being able to move myself around or even see the music isn't such a good thing. i've never done drugs to begin with so i've no idea what to do. be careful... ask questions... get answers... then ask someone else!

I decided to stop taking Pristiq due to extreme constipation and lack of sexual desire. Started taking it mainly due to always feeling tired and achey. The drug helped a GREAT deal with those. Doctor put me on Wellbutrin and told me to let the Wellbutrin build up in my system before taking myself off Pristiq. 5 days Pristiq free. So far my only side effect has been being very jittery. This just started about two hours ago.

Well – I’ve decided to stop taking PRISTIQ. I’ve been taking PRISTIQ for about three years now. I have gained about 50 lbs., most around my mid-section. I look like I’m pregnant. I had initially started taking PRISTIQ due to anxiety and depression, which helped out a great deal. However, I am at the point, where I want to control these disorders naturally. By meditation, acupuncture, or herbal remedies. I haven’t taken my meds since Saturday, April 21, the day I got Acupuncture, which is still questionable. It has been two days, and I feel really dizzy and nausea. I tried taking some ginger to help me the nausea, and it’s working a little bit, but now I’m really dizzy. What should I do ?

This was a while ago for you, how are things now?I've been a lab rat for more then 20 years suffering with depression, anxiety, panic, bipolar you name it i've been diagnosed with and given numerous drugs for. They would work for awhile and then stop or so I would think.

Effexor/Pristiq have been the worse expecially getting off of. Didn't even know Pristiq was like Effexor, would have said no way right from the start. Had my son 14 months ago and was completely drug free until about 6 months ago when I started getting this fuzzy werid stuff happening in my brain and body. So I put my symtoms into google and it said aniexty/panic disorder. So the new doctor put me on 50mg Pristiq, that day it went away and things were fine for a bit until I started feeling werid again,plus I still wasn't sleeping well. So he upped the dose to 100mg cause you can only go up by 50mg and also gave me abilify for sleep. Yeah right was sicker then a dog, thought I would die with heart attack that night and stopped taking the abilify. Got used to the extra Pristiq and yup started feeling weird again... so I said forget this crap, sick of allowing this to control me, stopped taking the one 50mg cold turkey and yes more of the werid fuzzy, eyes flicking,heart palpations, brain feeling like it's zigging and swimming almost like I was on some serious street drug gone bad./on a roller coaster where my heart falls into my stomach, nausea. Okay so one thing that was mentioned to me through theripy that wasn't mentioned before was ADHD didn't think I had it as a child but my daughter has it and I definately have some symtoms... so tried taking 5mg of Ritalin morning and afternoon and it's helped a bit. I have cleaned more of my house in the last two weeks then I have in the last two years :) Okay so I thought maybe this will help me wean of the other 50mg cause like I said you can't get any lower of this drug and you can't cut it. So for the past three days I haven't taken the Pristiq. Yup still all the werid stuff but just a bit different. I think I was excepting of the unexpected, also I have turned to God and have been praying on my knees for help and sometimes I think he hears me. Anyways SORRY know this is really long but I'm just frustrated and angry with all this crap... why can't I just been feel normal for once. I've gained tonnes of weight, I don't want affection forget about sex, if I don't have constipation then diarreha, nausea big time probable cause my head is swimming for it's life. These medications are supposed to make us better but in the end it's making everything worse. Is there a herbal appoarch? Can God really help? Can we learn to just WILL ourselves better? Wow!!! p.s. For those of you just starting medication expecially Pristiq/Effexor really read up on them all and think do I really want to do this to my body/mind. There has got to be another way... Help!!

Well - I'm much better now. I've started taking herbs to help maintain the side effects; like headaches, tiredness, depression, etc., Also, I've incorporated soem aromatherapy into my daily routine. I have a humidifier, and I add lavendar to it every other night. In addition, to other herbal supplements like skullcap flowering herb, oat seed, St. John's Wort, celery seed, and lavendar flower, just to name a few. I exercise about 30 to 45 minutes, twice a week. My husband said I seem so much better without it.

Hi. It's been 16 days since I started weaning from Prestiq. I have been on it for 5 years. Day 16 I have been without it for 4 days after going every other, every 2 and now I'm up to being without for 4 days. I still have nausea and dizziness and headaches. I too wish I knew how much longer I have to suffer.

Prostique is a terrible drug to come off. I think the manufacturers should be looking down the barrel of a class action for releasing such a drug onto the market. Anyway here is my story. After many years of cannabis use I developed depression and in the 90s was put on Prozac. After 20 years my doctor put me on Pristiq. I was taking 100mg every morning and unlike Prozac where I would start getting withdrawals a week after my last does, Pristiq starts quite sudden and severe withdrawals by early evening if you miss the morning dose.

I decided that I did not want to live like this, after distressing my life, I did not want to be taking this type of medication for the rest of my life. So I decided to get off it and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I have gone 36 hours without any and had not withdrawals. This is how I did it. Initially a dragged my regular time I took it out till early evening just when withdrawals started. I continued this, dragging it out later and later until bedtime even about midnight. I then continued this regime but bit the tablet in half and did this for about 5 days. BUT what I also did, when I felt the onset of withdrawals in early evening I would have two or three glasses of red wine, Pinot Noir, the affect of the alcohol blocked the nastiness of the withdrawals. I don't think I would have been able to stand the initial withdrawals without the buffer of some alcohol.I'm feeling good, I sense my libido is returning and my blood pressure is dropping.Good luck to all you people that are in the grip of this heinous drug and wish to quit it. I suggest you give my method a try and see how you go.

I have been on Pristique since early December 2017 as I had to change anti-depressants as Cymbalta was hard to get at the chemist. I have found Pristique to be absolutely terrible and now trying to get it off for over 3 weeks and have had dizziness, nausea, feeling off balance, anxious, still depressed, crying a lot. I'm taking it alternate days, can't function properly, can only do what I can, fortunately not having to work much right now. And probably off to the doctor again to make sure it's not something else more serious. This drug should be banned!

I was put on Pristiq because of menopausal hot flashes. When I went to wean myself off, I was a bear and for the sake of my marriage, I went back on. Been on for almost 7 years now and decided it’s time to say goodbye. What type of HELL have I descended into?! The withdrawals are the absolute worst. I weaned fro 100 mg to 50 mg, then cut in half and went down to 25 mg. Took that for about 10 days and stopped altogether since I ran out of pills and didn’t want to pay $50 for pills I’m cutting into quarters and getting rid of. Well, I’ve been completely bedridden for 2 days now. I can’t stand up or even turn my head without the severe vertigo!! My ears are ringing sooooooo loudly, and I’m not sure but I think it even hurts to blink. I’m getting weird brain pulsing, not a zap but more of a really, really dizzy pulsation. What do I do now? I do not want to go back in the other direction. All of this for hot flashes back then?! Ludicrous. Suffering greatly over here.

Hi Bruce, I’m on day 4 of tapering off of 50mg. Doctor advised to do every other day but I don’t understand how you ever get it out of your system if you just ingesting it every other day. What do you mean above by dragging your time out later and later each day? Thanks for your help.

OK, so day three Pristiq free came and went. Had to go to sleep with legs elevated ... pins and needle feeling in both feet and both legs from the knees down felt like they were bashed with a baseball bat. Very achy, internal bruised feeling. Couldn’t bear to have my feet even touching the mattress, so elevated they were! Vertigo is still there and I’ve perfected the art of getting out of bed (roll onto stomach and slither down the side and stand up) and the art of driving (to take daughter to doctor). New symptom in my head ... can only describe this one as being like having an old camera inside my head and the flash going off with a fraction of a second still frame. Is this what they’re calling brain zaps? A very odd, super dizzying feeling but not painful. Anyway, never going back on so I will continue to update and we can figure out how long it will take me to get “out of the woods.” I’m a very strong willed person so I’ll be just fine.